Time to Heal (Harlequin Heartwarming) Read Online Free Page B

to keep that lady entertained.” He paused again. “Wait, wait, something else. Leon Morrison. Yeah, Leon Morrison. She was really hung up on Leon, you remember that?”
    “I remember.”
    “I could never see why. He was one mean dude.”
    Yeah. One mean dude. Rick launched into an anecdote featuring Leon Morrison and ending with his apprehension a few years back, but Jake barely heard. By then Anne-Marie had already died. Apparently Leon was even worse than he’d known. Jake thanked Rick and replaced the receiver softly. Mama Dee was right. Anne-Marie had bad taste in men.
    So what did that make him?
    He groaned, closing his eyes. It was all comingback now. It had been a bad time for him and Rachel. One night they’d had the granddaddy of all arguments. The subject, as usual, had been his job. Rachel hated it. DEA undercover work did not conform to her idea of what was a suitable career for a family man. She was a basket case whenever he was on assignment. She was scared for him, she said. And with good reason, as it turned out. She had told him she was going home to Tidewater to do some thinking. And that she wasn’t sure she would ever be back.
    Jake turned in his chair and looked out the window. They had had other problems then, too. Rachel had wanted a baby more than anything in the world. So much that Jake had begun to wonder whether having a baby wasn’t more important to Rachel than he was. He had begun to wonder if she hadn’t married him just for that purpose. For some reason, whenever she did manage to conceive, inevitably she miscarried. The effect on their sex life had been devastating. The effect on Jake’s ego had been devastating.
    That was how the thing with Anne-Marie D’Angelo had happened.
    For two weeks he’d waited for Rachel to come home. Finally, one night he’d called her and demanded that she come back. They’d argued fiercely but settled nothing. Hanging up, he’d slammed out of their apartment and gone straightto a bar. Anne-Marie had been there, quietly getting drunk because Leon Morrison had just run out on her. It was a familiar scenario. Both feeling rejected, they’d drunk too much. Then they’d spent the night together consoling each other. The funny thing was, he’d known it was a mistake almost before they’d gone to bed.
    None of which excused his behavior. Jake stood up and went to the window, staring out at the row of palms gracing the front of the building. A child had resulted from that impulsive, dishonorable episode. He raked a hand through his hair. Now there was a price to be paid. He would have to take Michael into his home. With the boy’s grandmother gone, there was no other option.
    He watched a young mother cross the street holding on to the hand of a small boy. The scene wrenched at his heart and he thought of Michael’s face as he’d held out his birth certificate. His eyes had been dark with uncertainty. He’d looked so earnest, braced for outright rejection. Scared, too. Jake felt something twist inside him. He didn’t want any other option, he realized suddenly. Scotty had been taken from him, but now, for some reason, he’d been offered this chance to rescue and care for his firstborn son, and he wanted it. He hoped it wouldn’t be more than Rachel could bear.
    Turning from the window, he picked up thephone to call her. He wasn’t certain she’d been serious about applying for a job. If she was still at home, Michael could wait here while he went to her. He couldn’t just spring this on her without first trying to explain. He punched out the number and waited. After several rings, he knew she wasn’t there. He could try her cell, but he didn’t want to risk interrupting her if she was speaking to someone at the bank. He’d have to wait, keep Michael here with him. Settling in his chair, he decided it was probably best. Maybe by the end of the day he would’ve come up with some way to break the news to Rachel without destroying his